Bangladesh cancels visit of judicial officers that was part of India’s MoU with Hasina government

Bangladesh on Sunday (January 5, 2024) cancelled the visit by a delegation of its judicial officials to India. In a circular, the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs said the officials who were scheduled to attend a training programme in Bhopal between February 10 and 20 has been cancelled. The cancellation is being interpreted as a hint that Bangladesh will reconsider some of the agreements and MoUs that were signed during the Hasina era as the training of judicial officials was part of one such bilateral MoU.

According to state-owned news agency UNB, 50 officials were granted permission on 30 December 30, 2024, to attend the training module in Bhopal. The nominated officials were chosen from a list of Assistant Judges, Senior Assistant Judges, Joint District and Sessions Judges, Additional District and Sessions Judges, District and Sessions Judges and other serving officials.

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The letter of approval had mentioned that the training module was being financed by the Government of India and that the Government of Bangladesh was not expected to finance the training module. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had visited India during April 7-10, 2017, when the two sides had signed twenty-two agreements. The MoU between the National Judicial Academy, India and the Supreme Court of Bangladesh on Training and Capacity Building Programme for Bangladeshi Judicial Officers in India was one of these MoUs.

Under this MoU judicial training for the officials of Bangladesh judiciary were expected to be imparted in the National Judicial Academy in Bhopal as part of the building of capacity and expertise of the judiciary of Bangladesh. The development in the backdrop of continued deadlock between Dhaka and New Delhi over the presence of deposed PM Sheikh Hasina on Indian territory.

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Bangladesh has been seeking extradition of Ms. Hasina as dozens of cases have been filed against her by the victims of police crackdown of July-August 2024. India has acknowledged that Dhaka has sent a note verbale seeking extradition of Ms. Hasina but has not conveyed what it plans to do regarding the request from Bangladesh. Since coming to power, the interim government has been saying that it will review and if necessary cancel some of the agreements that Ms. Hasina had signed with India.